Excellent Hash Browns - get them before they're gone

Share:

Excellent Hash Browns - get them before they're gone

I really apologize for not disclosing this source until they're weeks from closing but I, well, just took it for granted.

I love crunchy food. In particular, I love hash browns which very few places serve any more. Of the places that do serve hash browns, very few are really good. They are usually either too greasy or too mushy. So I several years ago I was delighted to find a place that serves excellent hash browns.

Unlike the Pork Store which makes greasy, limp hash browns on a griddle (when I've been there the cook has never left the potatoes alone long enough to get a good crust) - Chestnut Cafe on Fillmore Street makes each order of hash browns separately in its own skillet. They are crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, not too greasy. Yumm, Yumm, Yumm, a little salt and hot sauce and they become round discs of happiness!

Sadly, the owners of Chestnut Cafe are in the process of selling it. They are going to stay open while the new owners try to get a beer/wine license. So if you want to try the best hash browns before they disappear, go soon!!

True Story about Chestnut Cafe - One Sunday morning, I got up early to run errands. I got hungry and went to Chestnut Cafe for breakfast. As I was eating, I thought, "hmmm, I should take something home to my husband. Should I go around the corner to Bay Bread for almond croissants or should I take him eggs, bacon & hash browns? OH MY GOD! If I did both - it might be excessive carbo-loading but it would be the ultimate breakfast." As Good and Evil fought in my head, I began to feel like a food obsessed freak for even thinking of such a thing.

Just then, a man came in carrying a giant bag of goodies from Bay Bread. He walked up to the counter. The woman behind the counter said "Your order of Hash Browns is ready." She proceeded to put at least three orders of hash browns in a bag for him.

As I realized I wasn't alone, a certain peace fell over me. Even though I had not yet heard the term "chowhound" yet, I knew I had witnessed something really, really important.

So if anyone knows of a place that makes hash browns like Chestnut Cafe's, let me know!!! 'Cause when they close, I'm gonna back a square one - searching the highways and byways of the Bay Area for decent hash browns.